The 2011 TEDxToronto theme was Redefinition, a way of rethinking how we define what shapes our world, the communities we live in, our social and political structures, our relationships and ourselves.

I got the opportunity to work on the Programming Team this year to help source speakers for the annual TEDxToronto Conference and it was an amazing experience, one that provided me with a glimpse of the incredibly talented people we have in Toronto who are working to solve and invent complex problems and technologies. Held at the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning on September 23, 2011, speakers presented ideas on thriving cities, international development, thought controlled computing and cause marketing. Dr. Brian Goldman gave a humbling talk about the need to redefine our medical culture, a current system that routinely denies mistakes and perpetuates a shame culture where perfection is the only answer. Doctors need an environment to openly discuss their failures and mistakes in order to learn from them and from others and to break the cycle of shame.

Joshna Maharaj and Brandon Hay were two of the community nominated speakers who presented powerful talks about the importance of strengthening our health care system by providing patients with culturally significant and locally sourced food that is prepared from scratch in hospital kitchens and about the need to develop support systems and forums for black fathers to discuss issues of fatherhood where they are empowered to be responsible and involved role models.